By the late 90s, the original "Batman: The Animated Series" and it's follow up "The New Batman Adventures" had changed the face of comic book characters in media; not only taking the genre for it's own...but achieving a level in animation that to date had been contested but never passed as far as visual richness and in depth character development.

By 1999, a new extension of the Animated DCU enacted by Bruce Timm, Alan Burnett and Eric Radomski was greenlit and released...

The show focused on the premise of an older Bruce Wayne, worn by age and sensibilities that conflicted with his nightly crusade, thusly giving up the mantle of Batman forever...only for his spirit to be re-invigorated by an other-side-of-the-tracks teen named Terry McGinnis.

The show...was "Batman Beyond"

And after three television seasons, one direct to DVD feature and a slowly gaining fan base, "Batman Beyond" has become almost as beloved in its own right as the original Animated Series that began in 1992.

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I personally feel that this series doesn't recieve nearly the amount of praise that it should.

As the premiere was gearing up on KidsWB I had my reservations and doubts; I'm sure we all did.

How could they take Wayne out of the costume? Just who does this McGinnis punk think he is? And why isn't this "Batman" fighting "Batman" villains.

But as the show progressed, I came to respect and love it.

It's one thing to take on such an intimidating task after 60 plus years of comic book history...But it's another to do it with such bold style and to not fall into that all too easy trap that "Spider-Man Unlimited" did by taking the original characters into a future setting.

It would've really been something to see this show continue and to see it have the illustrious decade long run of the oriignal TAS.

I found this series to be more entertaining than what I was initially expecting. I absolutely loved the first season's episodes, inparticular. And of course the animated ROTJ flick. A very enjoyable series.

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"Option A: You talk, we listen, no pain. Option B: You don't talk, I remove your thumbs with my pliers, it will hurt. Option C: I like to vary the details a bit, but the punchline is ... you die."

I got the 'Rebirth' video the day it came out and kinda lost interest in the idea. It was around the same time as Spider-Man Unlimited, which I hated.

I didn't like that I didn't know any of the villains, and that it was set in the future where everything looked away too advanced considering TAS was anachronisticly dressed to look like it was in the past.

However, years later when I bought all the TAS DVDs I decided to give Beyond another try and now recognise its good points. Epilogue certainly helped me see the nice flow between all the shows.

Speaking of villians' fates. I would have loved to have found out what ever happened to Two Face, The Scarecrow, The Riddler, The Penguin ect ect in the Beyond universe. But I suppose it wasnt meant to be for whatever reason. Though it was cool finding out about Mr. Freeze, The Joker, and Bane (kinda harsh, but justified).

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"Option A: You talk, we listen, no pain. Option B: You don't talk, I remove your thumbs with my pliers, it will hurt. Option C: I like to vary the details a bit, but the punchline is ... you die."

Speaking of villians' fates. I would have loved to have found out what ever happened to Two Face, The Scarecrow, The Riddler, The Penguin ect ect in the Beyond universe. But I suppose it wasnt meant to be for whatever reason. Though it was cool finding out about Mr. Freeze, The Joker, and Bane (kinda harsh, but justified).

Well we know what happened to half the Legion of Doom lol, they were all killed by Killer Frost/Darkseid. I guess the villains can thank the Bat-Embargo for that

I presume The Penguin would've sold up and moved to some corrupt island until he died of liver disease or whatever. Two-Face might've died a horrible death after going too far with a crime, and Poison Ivy probably killed herself when she got her first wrinkle.

the third season had that annoying female character in it far too much and lost its flow a lil with only out of the past and that jlu 2 parter.

I also didn't like how terry always seemed fairly weak in crossovers with static and other heroes in jlu.

I liked how terry was not a polished fighter and was willing to fight dirty or go that extra yard for a win, I also liked how his villains were all noticeably more dangerous than the crime tycoons of batman's error, it reflects on the times more. A new type of batman was needed for a new society.

I liked also how terry grew with his fighting and detective skills. Beyond had some awesome villains and character designs though and the fights even now are on par with the best of jlu.

the only thing i would change were some of the details of epilogue. I would have had the dna altering experiments work but too late to have an effect on terry but his lil brother would actually be his half brother and he would be the perfect dna specimen of a crime fighter. His bro would come into the fold and become the new nightwing and future legacy of batman. A slight switch but he would give terry now that chance to take on bruce's role as mentor and would secure there was a future batman there ready for another generation of crime fighting.

Well we know what happened to half the Legion of Doom lol, they were all killed by Killer Frost/Darkseid. I guess the villains can thank the Bat-Embargo for that

I presume The Penguin would've sold up and moved to some corrupt island until he died of liver disease or whatever. Two-Face might've died a horrible death after going too far with a crime, and Poison Ivy probably killed herself when she got her first wrinkle.

We know what happened to Ra's/Talia and Harley Quinn though.

Oh yeah. Harley's cameo was great.

Speaking of Legion of Doom, I was shocked at how quickly those members who sided with Grodd were executed in that particular episode. I remember watching it, and was like, "Damn!".

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"Option A: You talk, we listen, no pain. Option B: You don't talk, I remove your thumbs with my pliers, it will hurt. Option C: I like to vary the details a bit, but the punchline is ... you die."

Speaking of Legion of Doom, I was shocked at how quickly those members who sided with Grodd were executed in that particular episode. I remember watching it, and was like, "Damn!".

It certainly halved the Justice League's problems lol

I guess they would have relaxed a little up until the Beyond-era, until the new school of villains kicked off.

I suppose I liked Blight's story and how they kept him going until the end of season 1, but the Beyond villains wouldn't have stood a chance against any of the old school villains, I mean when the Jokerz first see the Joker in ROTJ they start to panic.

Not close to the greatness of TAS, but still an amazing animated show.

The video "Return of the Joker" really is one of the best Batman/Joker stories ever. The only problem with the movie is that when it's not about Batman/Joker, it kind of sucks. But when it is focused on Batman/Joker, it's pretty much amazing.

Beyond tried to pass off Blight as this..and it..kinda...failed miserably.

Since the whole series did infact revolve around something Project Cadmus did, I wouldn't of minded seeing them more involved in the series-as central protaganists. Maybe even retcon some smaller DC Villians for Beyond (ie: characters like Azrael, Conduit, etc) maybe introduce a Red Hood type character.

Since the whole series did infact revolve around something Project Cadmus did, I wouldn't of minded seeing them more involved in the series-as central protaganists. Maybe even retcon some smaller DC Villians for Beyond (ie: characters like Azrael, Conduit, etc) maybe introduce a Red Hood type character.

They did that with Spellbinder. I think had it continued, they planned to introduce characters they never got around to having in the TAS.

I know they wanted to have Huntress around, but it didn't get another season and she went on to star in JLU anyway.

I think they wanted Max to become a Carrie Kelly-type Robin sidekick too.

Honestly wasn't a huge fan for a number of reasons. To me, Bruce Wayne is the only Batman. I didn't like the new suit at all. They couldn't use many familiar villains and instead had to makeup many(most that I didn't like). But it wasn't bad either. I liked the animation and the writing was good, character designs were iffy at times. But I really enjoyed Return of the Joker.

__________________"When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross"- Harry Callahan

Beyond tried to pass off Blight as this..and it..kinda...failed miserably.

Since the whole series did infact revolve around something Project Cadmus did, I wouldn't of minded seeing them more involved in the series-as central protaganists. Maybe even retcon some smaller DC Villians for Beyond (ie: characters like Azrael, Conduit, etc) maybe introduce a Red Hood type character.

Back in January, we reported that a whole slew of Cartoon Network series would be appearing on Netflix Instant at the end of March. Included in that announcement was the recently canceled Green Lantern: The Animated Series, but now it seems that even more DC cartoons will be appearing on the streaming service.

StreamingSoon.com, which creates a list of all upcoming films and tv shows that will be added to the service, lists that 2001's "Justice League," 2004's "Justice League Unlimited," "Batman: The Brave and The Bold," and the fan favorite "Batman Beyond" will all appear on Netflix instant on March 30.

Only the first season of "Brave and the Bold" will be online with the first two seasons of both "Justice League" and "Justice League Unlimited." All three seasons of "Batman Beyond" will be available for streaming. Sound off below with your excitement!